Child support in arrears in 64% of cases

Unpaid child and spousal support now tops $2.7-billion across the country, says a Statistics Canada report released Friday.

Money was owed in 64% of support cases in 11 provinces and territories between March 2009 and March 2010, the survey said.

As of March 31, 2010, there were nearly 408,000 cases, most involving children, registered in maintenance enforcement programs, which process cases and ensure support is paid. All provinces and territories report data except for Manitoba and Nunavut.

In any given month throughout the year, just under one-third of cases were not in full compliance with payment due for the month, the survey found.

A similar report released last November found that accumulated arrears, or money owing, to be $2.5-billion. Newfoundland and Labrador was also added to the survey this year.

Many cases are enrolled in the maintenance programs for years or even decades, said analyst Paul Robinson.

He said that a spouse or guardian might miss a monthly payment, which is added to total arrears, but is otherwise compliant for the rest of the year, which accounts for the monthly compliance rate.

In March 2010, for cases with regular support payments, the majority of payees owed $400 or less. Just over 5% of cases were owed more than $1,000, the study said.

The province with the highest compliance rate was Quebec, at 80%. The lowest rate of compliance, at 52%, was Northwest Territories. Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta had compliance rates of 62, 63 and 64%, respectively.

According to the 2009 report, unpaid support has risen by about $50 million each year since 2004.

Aaron Franks, a family lawyer and partner at the firm Epstein Cole in Toronto, said that the provincial enforcement programs are challenging to enforce.

“There’s a lot of people that simply aren’t paying and don’t want to pay, and to actually collect all the arrears and actually enforce all the agreements and judgments out there you would need an incredible amount of resources,” he said.

As for the families and spouses who count on the money, “eventually it starts to get hard to live,”said Franks.